"Yaa?" Slowking blinked. "They wanted to see the outside world. Gyarados and Pidgeot already left on their own. Gyarados dug into an underground river and escaped that way. Pidgeot just flew off."
"Yaa… Butterfree scared them by saying humans would catch them and eat them. After Gyarados and Pidgeot left, Pikachu and the others were still afraid, but they still wanted to go. I don't know who told them they'd be safe if a human Trainer caught them."
"Dewgong, Pikachu, Vaporeon, Meowth, and Wigglytuff were all caught by Cissy in different parts of the orchard. Golduck and Hitmonlee were caught by Senta."
"What?" Reiji looked down at the Pikachu in his arms.
There really had been a plot like this in the anime. The clone Pikachu and a group of clone Pokémon had wanted to see the wider world.
Before Giovanni discovered them and came to capture them, clone Pikachu had led many of the clone Pokémon away from Mewtwo's hidden home, Mount Quena.
Mount Quena was in Johto. But Mewtwo was no longer there, and the clone Pokémon were not at Mount Quena either. They were living in the lakeside cabins on Mikan Island now.
The plot had been changed.
"Who else wants to leave?" Reiji asked Slowking in a low voice.
Those little troublemakers really knew how to give him headaches.
"The ones who wanted to leave have already left. Only Blastoise and Ninetales are still there. The rest don't want to go. They just want a quiet life." Slowking's voice sounded in Reiji's mind.
"And whose idea was it to let them get caught by humans?" Reiji asked again.
"Yaa… I... don't know...." That was Slowking's honest answer.
A pair of crimson compound eyes was staring straight at it. Slowking glanced toward Butterfree, who was standing off to the side pretending this had nothing to do with it.
"Butterfree. Was this you?" Reiji followed Slowking's gaze and immediately knew who had been causing trouble.
The Pokémon that did not need to battle were still outside their Poké Balls, Butterfree included.
"Fweee…" Butterfree saw that the truth was out and that Reiji was angry. It hurried over to Cissy, carefully grabbed her arm, and hid behind her. Only its little head peeked out as it watched Reiji.
Reiji almost laughed from sheer irritation.
It had actually hidden behind Cissy, as if that meant he couldn't do anything to it.
Honestly. This little thing…
"What are you doing?" Cissy looked even more confused than Reiji. "Are we battling or not? And why is my Pikachu so close to you?"
Reiji could only scratch his head and laugh. "Haha… nothing."
What else could he say?
This had to stop here. He absolutely could not expose Pikachu as a clone Pokémon. As for Butterfree, that little schemer kept coming up with the weirdest ideas. What was Reiji supposed to tell Mewtwo when it came back?
Still, Butterfree hiding behind Cissy told him something else.
Cissy must have treated his Pokémon well while he was gone. She had cared for them properly, enough that even Butterfree trusted her. Reiji could not be angry about that.
This was exactly the kind of environment he wanted for the Pokémon he left behind. A place like Professor Oak's backyard, but with someone attentive enough to look after them, so they would not feel lonely or bored while he traveled.
Butterfree knew Reiji was not truly angry. Still, hiding for a little while was safer. Later, it could just act cute. That always worked on Reiji. It had experience.
Cissy's father, meanwhile, did not suspect anything strange about the Pokémon.
From his point of view, this looked like his daughter's cabbage had already been rooted up by a pig.
Cissy's Pikachu was close to Reiji, and Reiji's Butterfree was close to Cissy. These two definitely had secrets between them. They were supposed to be battling, yet here they were showing off their bond instead.
A little excessive, wasn't it?
When had they gotten together? As Cissy's father, how had he not noticed?
Had someone been climbing walls at night?
Cissy's father was deeply confused.
"Let's start the battle," Reiji said quickly, putting Pikachu down.
The match with Cissy was finally about to begin: Pikachu versus Pidgeot.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
"Pidgeot, Hurricane."
The moment Cissy gave her order, Reiji gave his as well.
"Kraa!"
Pidgeot flapped hard in midair, sending fierce winds crashing down toward Pikachu. Pikachu could barely take a step. Before it could even release Thunderbolt, the tornado lifted it into the air.
"Pidgeot, Agility. Steel Wing."
"Kraa!"
While Pikachu was caught in the whirlwind, Pidgeot turned into a streak of light and shot toward it. Silver-white light flashed across its wings as it sliced past Pikachu in midair.
Thud, thud, thud!
Pidgeot banked around and struck again, battering Pikachu back and forth in the air.
"Pikachu, grab Pidgeot and use Thunder!"
"Pika… pi!"
Pikachu had been knocked around so much that its feet never touched the ground. Still, it heard Cissy's command and fixed its eyes on Pidgeot as it came in again.
Reiji called out at once. "Pidgeot, use Steel Wing and throw it off!"
"Kraa!"
Pidgeot saw Pikachu ready itself, clearly planning to grab onto its wing. But Pidgeot was a ruler of the sky. It was not that easy to catch.
It swept past Pikachu with another Steel Wing. Pikachu took the chance and clung to its wing, but Pidgeot twisted violently in midair. Its wings folded tight, then snapped open all at once.
Pikachu was flung off.
Bang!
It slammed into the wall and fainted.
Before that, it had been swept into the air by Hurricane and struck again and again. Steel resisted those hits, but the collision damage was real, and the final impact against the wall finished it.
"Pikachu!" Cissy had thought the matchup favored her. Electric beat Flying. She had expected Pikachu to have a real chance.
She had not expected the match to end so quickly.
Once Pikachu was trapped in the air with no footing, there had not been much she could do. She could only hope Pikachu found a way to break through at the last second, but it still failed.
"Whew. That's over." Reiji recalled Pidgeot and glanced at the Pikachu Cissy had just recalled.
If it had been Ash's Pikachu, maybe it would not have been that simple.
But Ash's Pikachu was one of a kind.
"Second match," Cissy's father said with a sigh.
He had not expected this. After two months of hard training, these two children were still like this, while Reiji had grown faster after being left on his own.
Was the kid really that talented? An orphan who somehow figured out Pokémon training without a teacher?
Or were his own children just that hopeless as Trainers?
"Go, Blastoise." Cissy did not look at her father.
Her read had been wrong. She had expected Reiji to use a Water-type Pokémon, which was why she chose Pikachu.
The prediction itself had not been bad. Pikachu simply could not beat Pidgeot. There was nothing she could do about that.
"Slowking, you want this one?" Reiji turned to Slowking.
Accelgor, Lucario, Umbreon, and Pidgeot had all fought already.
Among his second-line Pokémon, that left Magmar, Dugtrio, Zapdos, Slowking, and the uncaught Ludicolo.
Of those, Slowking was the most suitable. The others were either poor matchups, not appropriate, or could not be shown.
"Yaa." Slowking nodded and slowly walked onto the battlefield.
Water against Water. Even though Slowking was stepping in after seeing the opponent, there was no type advantage here, so it did not feel unfair.
"Blastoise versus Slowking. Start already!"
"Blastoise, Dark Pulse!"
"Slowking, dodge with Teleport!"
The moment Reiji heard Dark Pulse, he had Slowking move. His Slowking had trained at the Gym, so of course it had learned Teleport.
"Blastoise, watch where it comes out!"
"Slowking, Thunder Wave!"
"Yaa."
Slowking appeared to Blastoise's side. The two horn-like points on its crown crackled with yellow electricity and fired arcs toward Blastoise.
"Kameh!"
By the time Blastoise noticed Slowking, Thunder Wave had already struck. It cried out and dropped to one knee, paralyzed.
"Slowking, Thunder Punch!"
Reiji had checked Slowking's panel, so he knew what moves it had learned. If it had Thunder Wave, of course it had Thunder Punch too.
"Yaa."
Slowking vanished again with Teleport and reappeared in front of Blastoise. Lightning gathered around its fist, and it swung for Blastoise's stomach.
"Blastoise, Withdraw! Iron Defense!"
Cissy's Blastoise was paralyzed and could not move properly, so she had it pull into its shell.
"Kameh!"
Blastoise tucked away its vulnerable belly. Slowking's attack stopped short. A white flash ran over the shell. With Withdraw's Defense boost and Iron Defense on top, Blastoise had reached +3 Defense.
"Slowking, lift it with Confusion and slam it into the ground."
Reiji did have answers for turtles hiding in their shells. No matter how hard the shell was, hitting it enough times would do the job.
"Blastoise, Rapid Spin and use Hydro Pump!"
"Kameh!"
Blastoise's voice came from inside the shell. Even as Confusion lifted it, it began spinning in midair and blasted Hydro Pump from inside the shell, breaking free of Slowking's psychic hold.
"Kameh…"
Unfortunately, the momentum did not last. Paralysis kicked in, and Blastoise's shell froze upright on the ground. It could not move or use a move. Hydro Pump stopped.
"Now. Thunder Punch!"
Reiji did not care about the +3 Defense. Thunder Punch hit for x2 damage. Better to strike first.
"Yaa!"
Slowking teleported in front of Blastoise and drove a lightning-wrapped fist into its stomach, sending it flying.
Bang!
Blastoise slammed into the wall, then slid down to the ground. Its head and limbs popped back out of the shell. It looked awful, its head spinning from the Electric-type hit.
"Blastoise, Withdraw again. Rapid Spin into Take Down!"
"Kameh!"
Blastoise shook its head until its eyes cleared, then pulled back into its shell and charged toward Slowking.
"Slowking, push it back with Psychic!"
"Yaa."
Slowking did not dodge. It raised both hands, blue Psychic energy gathering as it prepared to repel the spinning Blastoise.
"Come out and use Crunch!"
Cissy knew Slowking well. She had one herself, so she understood exactly how to answer this moment.
"Crunch will break the psychic hold. Slowking, Protect, then Hyper Beam!"
"Yaa!"
Slowking immediately changed its defense. It raised Protect just as Blastoise's jaws lunged out from the shell. Darkened teeth bit deep into the protective barrier but failed to break through.
Boom—
At the same time Blastoise bit down, Slowking opened its mouth and gathered a terrifying surge of energy.
Hyper Beam.
"Blastoise, get back in your shell! Mirror Coat!"
"Damn. This depends on one hit now." Reiji heard Mirror Coat and knew it was too late to stop Hyper Beam.
Mirror Coat reflected the damage taken from a special attack back at the same opponent with twice the force.
It was similar to Counter. One returned physical damage. The other returned special damage.
But those reflection moves had one condition: the user had to survive the hit.
If it could not take the attack, it was over.
Boom!
A devastating beam erupted from Slowking's mouth. Blastoise's shell shimmered with rainbow light as it took the point-blank Hyper Beam and was blasted straight into the roof.
The roof could not withstand it either. Hyper Beam punched a hole through it, and Blastoise was launched outside.
"Blastoise!" Cissy shouted.
She released Escavalier and had it fly out through the hole to look for Blastoise, then ran for the door herself.
"Uh…" Reiji scratched his head awkwardly and looked at Cissy's father.
Had he gone a little too far?
"It's fine. With Blastoise's Defense, it'll have minor injuries at most. Two days of rest and it'll be all right." Cissy's father waved it off and stood, heading outside.
From the battles just now, especially the last one, he had a much clearer sense of Reiji's strength.
That exchange between Blastoise and Slowking had shown both Reiji and Cissy reacting well in the moment.
Cissy still lacked polish. Reiji's battle judgment was far more seasoned. He was the kind of Trainer who used anything that could be used.
Because of the battlefield's limitations, moves like Earthquake and Dig that would destroy the field could not be used in the Gym. Even a high-power move like Hyper Beam could badly damage the arena. Gym battles did not ban moves like that, but if something broke, someone had to repair it.
Like now.
The Gym roof had a hole in it.
He had no idea how the old man had trained that Slowking, but its Hyper Beam was ridiculous.
Cissy's father and Reiji reached the grass outside and found Blastoise lying not far away. By the time they saw it, it had already fainted.
"Cissy, take your Pokémon for treatment."
"Dad, isn't there still a third match?" Cissy looked up at him, stunned. They weren't continuing?
"No need. Your performance just now was good. You're already at the level needed for a professional tournament, much better than your brother." Cissy's father continued, "From now on, Gym battles will be changed to a two-on-two format. Trainers who beat your brother will still have to beat you before they can receive the Badge."
"Okay, Dad."
The surprise on Cissy's face melted into a bright smile.
After two months of training, this was the first time her father had praised her.
She happily recalled Blastoise, shot Reiji a look for injuring it, then ran back toward the Gym.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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